Living In America
Living In America Excommunicado, across the nation. GOOD CITIZEN Super highways, coast to coast Easy to get anywhere On the transcontinental overload Just slide behind the wheel How does it feel 16 hours until the start of The Arizona Trail… Every evening at 17:59:50 PST a Vietnam veteran who lives in the townhouse around the corner goes out onto his porch and stands tall before the giant American flag that extends from the porch pillar nearest the street out over the sidewalk. As the clock strikes the top of the hour, he pulls the mouthpiece end of his horn to his lips and plays Taps. The beautiful sounds blanket the neighborhood for precisely sixty seconds. The melody resonates for the same length of time it did at the funeral of President John F. Kennedy. A sign on his porch reads Taps, Daily 6 pm. I recall many times while writing from the upstairs rear guest balcony of Los Viejos townhome, hearing those sounds in B-flat, and stopping on a letter to sit back and enjoy t...
